Ultimately, the start-up of the Sadara complex in Saudi Arabia and the PDH plant in Texas should benefit the performance-materials segment, Liveris said.

In the meantime, Dow will attempt to improve the segment's performance through price action, which could lead to volume losses, Liveris said.

That, in turn, could cause more assets to go down, he said. "We have to intervene on high-cost assets in low-growth jurisdictions."

Liveris added, "We are going to put laser-like focus because we are unsatisfied, dissatisfied, with the last two years in performance, and it's creating headwinds that speak against the positive side of the Dow portfolio."

He said, "We are determined to fix those two businesses and do it in a short order."